God Dethroned

Infobox musical artist
Name = God Dethroned


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Origin = The Netherlands
Genre = Death metal (early), Blackened death metal (mid-era), Melodic death metal (current)
Occupation =
Years_active = 1990-1993, 1994-present
Label = Metal Blade Records
URL = [http://www.goddethroned.com/ Official Site]
Current_members = Henri Sattler Isaac Delahaye Henk "Henke" Zinger Roel Sanders

God Dethroned is a melodic death metal band from the Netherlands.

Biography

The Dutch melodic black metal band God Dethroned was formed in 1990 by vocalist Henri Sattler with several friends (credited only as M. Beukeveld, M. Arends, and A. Dijkstra); they recorded a demo in 1992 and signed a deal with German label Shark soon afterward. Their first album, The Christhunt did poorly. Dethroned went on hiatus the following year, with Sattler forming a new group called Ministry of Terror. Following that band's 1994 album "Fall of Life" and a supporting European tour, Sattler decided to re-form God Dethroned with guitarist Jens Van Der Valk, bassist Beef, and drummer Roel Sanders. With this lineup a deal was signed with Metal Blade, and they issued The Grand Grimoire in Europe in 1997; the album was released in the U.S. the following year, along with a re-issue of "The Christhunt", which featured the cover art they had originally wanted (a dissected rat).

The Grand Grimorie did much better than The Christhhunt did, and the band soon entered into a sort of high point. The lineup of Sattler, Van Der Valk, Beef and Sanders would record the album Bloody Blasphemy, which many fans of the band consider to their best work to date. Successful tours and shows with bands like Marduk, Immortal, and Deicide would later follow. After Bloody Blasphemy, Sanders soon left the band and was replaced by Puerto Rican drummer Tony Laureano. Laureano played with the band up till 2003, when he received an offer to join the American death metal band Nile. He would record only one album with the band, 2000's Ravenous.

A new drummer was found in the form of Ariën Van Weesenbeek, and the band entered the studio at the end of 2002 to record a new album titled Into the Lungs of Hell. More problems began to follow, as Beef and Jens were tired with the direction of the band and wanted to push for a more heavy and extreme sound with more anti Christian lyrics (themes that had begun to start to fade to an extent on Ravenous), whereas Sattler wanted to keep the band at a more melodic and darker sound with lyrics focused more on darkness, horror, nihilism, and other themes. The band then split into two camps, one with Sattler and Van Weesenbeek, and the other with Beef and Jens Van Der Valk. After the recording and a short amount of touring for Into the Lungs of Hell, both the bassist and guitarist left the band, and Henri Sattler had to go look out for members once again. The search was rough, and the band nearly broke up in the process due to an inability to find a new guitarist that Sattler thought would be acceptable. Luckily for them, bassist Henk Zinger was quickly brought into the fold, and Ariën Van Weesenbeek soon recommended Belgian guitarist Isaac Delhaye to the band. This lineup would finish up the remaining tour dates and would go back into the studio record another album.

The first lineup to be released with this lineup of the band was 2005's The Lair of the White Worm. The style was a bit of a shift, for while being very heavy and still death metal, it was much more melodic and had more chord progressions in the rhythms to add to the darker atmosphere. Less and less songs also were about hating Christians (the only one with remote anti Christian themes was Arch Enemy Spain) and rather focused on themes like torture, battle, nihilism, hatred of humanity, history, pain, and even politics (a theme that is rarely touched in death metal). The album received praise, and was also noted on the exceptional guitar work on the part of Isaac. Before The Lair of the White Worm, Henri Sattler played most of God Dethroned's lead guitar parts, and those were fairly rudimentary for the most part. Isaac's playing was much more accomplished, and Henri and him created some of the best guitar parts the band has ever played in their songs.

After touring for a little while, the band then went back into the studio and released The Toxic Touch in 2006. The album was even more melodic then before, but featured themes such as disease, death, suffering, suicide, and more anti Christian sentiments then the previous album. Many of the lyrics were often mocked as being "too emo" and "soft". Still, the album was a success and the band is still out touring in support of it. It is unknown when a new album will be made, but Sattler says he has many ideas (including a live album of the band) in his mind for the future of God Dethroned.

On January 30 2008, the band announced on their website that, with Van Weesenbeek joining Dutch Symphonic metal band Epica full-time in December 2007, the band was left "no other choice than to let him go". The return of former drummer Roel Sanders was announced at the same time, with the notion that the band will start writing a new album with the working title Passiondale.

Genre

God Dethroned originally formed as a death metal band and released their first album with that sound. When they reformed in 1994, they switched to blackened death metal and stayed that way until the release of Into the Lungs of Hell, where they then shifted to melodic death metal.

Current members

*Henri "T.S.K." Sattler - vocals & guitars
*Isaac Delahaye - guitars
*Henk "Henke" Zinger - bass guitar
*Roel Sanders - drums

Former members

*Jens Van Der Valk - guitar
*Beef - bass guitar
*Ariën van Weesenbeek - drums

Discography

* "The Christhunt" (1992) (Reissued in 1998)
* "The Grand Grimoire" (1997)
* "Bloody Blasphemy" (1999)
* "The Ancient Ones" (2000)
* "Ravenous" (2000)
* "Into the Lungs of Hell" (2003)
* "The Lair of the White Worm" (2005)
* "The Toxic Touch" (2006)

External links

* [http://www.goddethroned.com/ Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/villavampiria Official Myspace Profile]